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Deseret Morning News, February 16, 2008
Tad Walsh PROVO — The Western States Presidential Primary proved once again that Utah County is a political red zone.
Really, really red.
Last week, Utah Valley voters flocked to the polls to cast ballots in the presidential primaries. Nearly 87 percent chose to vote as Republicans. The Democratic primary drew a meager 8,448 of the more than 62,000 Utah Valley residents who cast ballots.
In another year, that might have thrown a scare into the growing number of moderates who have announced they will run as Democrats this fall in a well-coordinated offensive aimed at the Republican stranglehold on Utah County's seats in the state Legislature.
Scared? No. Plenty humble, sure. How could a Democrat be anything but humble in a county where a Democrat hasn't won since 1994?
But scared? Not this year. Not in The Year After the Great Voucher Vote.
You remember vouchers. In a referendum last November, an avalanche of votes negated the 2007 Legislature's decision to provide school vouchers.
The voucher defeat was, believe it or not, more impressive than Utah's love affair with Mitt Romney, which was astounding. Romney captured 90 percent of the votes in Utah's Republican primary. Add in all the votes cast in the Democratic primary and Romney earned 62 percent of all ballots cast by Utahns last week.
But the rush to join Mitt Mania or otherwise participate in a presidential primary didn't motivate Utahns like vouchers.
In November, more than 523,000 Utahns voted yea or nay on vouchers. Last week, 409,000 Utahns voted in the presidential primary.
And of that larger group, 62 percent rejected vouchers, giving notice to the Legislature that they want better pay for teachers and more money for public schools.
The New Utah County Democrats, led by BYU political science professor Richard Davis, are rounding up a slate of candidates who are socially conservative and politically moderate to run against the Republicans whose votes for vouchers were repudiated by their constituents.
The liberal wing of the party doesn't like the move to the middle, and it isn't a single-issue campaign, but Davis wanted candidates who could win support among Republicans and draw from the silent Utah County middle.
Despite all those votes for Romney and other Republicans, only half of Utah County voters are registered Republicans. Most of the rest are unaffiliated. The strategy is to attract those apparently open minds to a slate that Republicans and unaffiliateds can agree with on social issues like abortion while offering support for public education and improved transportation.
The best resume belongs to Paul Thompson, former Weber State president, BYU vice president and dean of the BYU business school. He's running against Lorie Fowlke in House District 59.
The most popular candidate is Steve Baugh, the respected, well-liked former superintendent of the Alpine School District. Baugh will run in District 58 against Stephen Sandstrom.
The education backgrounds continue in District 61 with Deon Turley, who is president of the Provo Citywide PTA Council and has the endorsement of Provo School District Superintendent Randy Merrill, in District 60 with former sixth-grade teacher Boyd McAfee, in District 27 with schoolteacher Gwyn Franson and in District 63 with former BYU professor Don Jarvis, who will announce his candidacy on Presidents Day.
Davis said more candidates will follow before the March 17 filing deadline. The voucher issue will be a part of every campaign.
"It's a gift that keeps on giving," Davis said. "Every time we talk to people about vouchers, they don't like the fact their state representative voted against their views, which was true for most of Utah County."
We'll know by March 17 if vouchers generate challenges to Republican incumbents from within their own party. Neighborhood caucuses are March 25.
Whether vouchers and social conservatism can carry a Democrat or two into the state House won't be clear until November, but I'll guarantee right now that the New Democrats will do better than John McCain and Mike Huckabee did in Utah Valley.
McCain got just 2 percent of the Republican vote in Utah County, finishing third to Ron Paul's 3.4 percent.
And Huckabee? Somebody could probably make money here with a T-shirt that said "I heart Huckabee" with the heart crossed out. He didn't even manage one-half of one percent, just 222 votes out of 54,075.
Tad Walch lives with his wife and five children in Provo, their home for the past 21 years. Please e-mail
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